Puerto Princesa is a true haven
of beauty of nature. Just within its city borders are some of the most amazing
natural sights that every Palawenos can be proud of. No wonder about it since
Puerto Princesa is one of the few places in the world where a complete
mountain-sea-forest ecosystem still exist. With its rich biodiversity of
seascape and landscape, Puerto Princesa City gears up as one of the greenest
and cleanest city in the country.

One of the 7 wonders of nature - Puerto Princesa Underground River!

As the plane approaches the
airport runway, I can already see from the plane window, a beautiful reef
surrounding the runway that made me excited to explore this city of Palawan. Arriving
early in the morning in the “princess of ports” is the ideal time to explore
its natural sights and places of interests. Together with my family and
relatives, we were fetched by our contact accommodation in Puerto Princesa –
Victoria Guest House and Cottages who also did arrangement for our tour around
the city. Victoria Guest House and
Cottages is conveniently located to near the airport with just a travel time of
around 10 to 12 minutes. Upon arrival, we were welcome by refreshment drinks
before we settled at their home-style room accommodation.

Stunning reef right from the airplane window as it approaches Puerto Princesa Airport.

Victoria Guest House and Cottages reception area.

One of the must-see to explore
in Puerto Princesa City is the newly voted one of the 7 new wonders of Nature –
The Underground River at Puerto Princesa Subterranean River National Park. But
before we embarked on the trip going to the Underground River, I must secure a
permit first at its town office. Securing a permit to visit the underground
river is a must since the tourism office is just limiting its visitors per day
and must be arranged prior to travel date because it’s hard to get permit as it
is mostly booked especially during Summer. Luckily, even we waited for a
standby slot we were still able to get a slot despite of peak season of
visitors. I failed to do prior arrangement for this trip to Underground River
because our tickets to Puerto Princesa were open-dated with a possible for
stand by passengers. With secured slots, we embarked on a 2 hour road trip to
Sabang Port, the jump point of trip to the Underground River.

From Sabang Port, you must
ride a mid-size outrigger boat for 30 minutes to reach the Puerto Princesa
Subterranean River National Park which has a docking port for boats. This is
the best and faster way to reach the national park since the alternate way is
trekking to the mountains and forests of the park which takes longer time to reach
it. At the park, I was immediately greeted by the towering walls of rock
formations and stunning white sand beach that I did not miss to photograph.
There’s a short walk through the wildlife park and canopy of trees to reach the
lagoon where the mouth of the underground river starts. Here, you still have to
wait from a queue of visitors by group number as the next ride is a paddle boat
good for a group of eight person.

Seaward bound...

Only in Puerto Princesa...

While we are paddling from the
lagoon towards the mouth of the underground river, our boatman and guide brief
us of the information about the park, the underground river and what to expect
during the entire cruise inside the cave. The Puerto Princesa Underground River
is 24 kilometres long and is navigable by boat up to 4 kilometres but we only
explored up to 1 and a half kilometres of the river. The underground river is
submerged inside a huge cave so as we paddle inside the cave, the temperature
starts to drop and wind is chilly cold. We were warned when looking at ceiling
of the cave especially with open mouth because bat’s droppings might drop on
you.

The Puerto Princesa Underground River.

As we enter into an abyss-like
darkness of the cave, only a single light at the front of our paddle boat is
the source of light which use for pointing special rock formations that our
guide explains throughout the cruise. Inside The underground river were
wonderful and marvellous decorations of stalactites and stalagmites as well as
cathedral-like chambers and dome as high as a huge arena. The rock formations
inside resembles a lot of objects and person like a Holy Family tableu, fruits,
towers, sexy woman, genital patterns which made us laugh but the scary shape
that I saw was a Velociraptor-like dinosaur formation that seemed to be frozen
in time.

Inside the abyss...

Marveling inside the underground river.

The dark and eerie trip inside
the cave may induce freakiness and not good for claustrophobics yet I was
entertained by the beautiful rock formations that I saw inside the cave. It was
also nice to think that is was naturally formed. I was amazed by these
underground cave sights with huge pillar, chambers and towering like formations
that would really made me marvel to its natural beauty. I didn’t mind the
darkness and pitch black atmosphere. I think it is part of the thrilling trip
to the underground river. The cruise inside Puerto Princesa Underground River
takes almost 2 hours back and forth via a paddle boat. The Puerto Princesa
Subterranean River National Park where the underground river is located is inscribed
in UNESCO World Heritage List for being the only national park in the country
with thick tropical forest cover within the city. Last January 2012, it was
chosen as one of the new 7 wonders of Nature campaign.

Seafood dinner at Victoria Guest House and Cottages.

By evening, I celebrated my
birthday with a seafood dinner with my family and relatives. It was an early
celebration since my birth date is the following day. Our seafood dinner
consists of buttered shrimp, sweet and sour lapu-lapu (which spell-binded me
with its taste!) and two bowls of sinigang sa miso. It was a sumptuous dinner!
The dinner was part of the Iwahig River Firefly Tour and Stargazing package
that we availed from Victoria Guest House and Cottages.

We proceeded to Iwahig River
for our Firely and Stargazing tour which is definitely ideal to visit by night
time. It was a 30 minute ride to the river from Puerto Princesa city proper.
The firefly and stargazing tour goes via a paddle boat with guide who is also
your boatman for a group of 3 people only per small boat. The cruise is via
Iwahig River which was flourishing with numerous plantations of mangroves.
These mangrove trees are home to fireflies which lights up the trees like
flashing Christmas lights on a Christmas tree. It was delightful and wonderful
sight to us as we cruise along the pitch-black surroundings of the river. It also hard to take photos of the fireflies
due to the darkness of the surrounding so I just contented myself a picture of
it in my mind and stop taking photos of it. As we cruise along, the boatman
explains to us the information about the fireflies and the importance of
mangrove ecosystem and its role. The fireflies’ presence apparently indicates a
clean ecosystem. I saw more and more firefly sightings in the mangroves as we
continue to cruise. It was another natural beauty sight of Puerto Princesa to
me.

Firefly and Stargazing tour!

Can you spot where the firefly is?

As we return to the port, we
had a stargazing of star constellations in the bright starry night. It was
perfect stargazing moment because the darkness of the surroundings makes the
sky blanketed with star glowed throughout the cruise. The boatman shares to us
the different constellations that we can see from the starry sky using a laser
pointer light. While he explains the constellations, I realized that it was a
beautiful evening – pleasant weather, delightful sights and a wonderful place. The
boatman also point to us, the glowing planktons in the water with the laser
light that makes it glitter in the river. As the cruise stops, I realized how
important ecotourism works in the community of the Iwahig River. It just
doesn’t promote and help the preservation of the environment by spreading
awareness and doing active participation but also helps the community and its
people in getting income and source of livelihood. What a great benefit from
ecotourism!

The Iwahig River cruise takes
about an hour tour. But if visitors prefer a morning cruise along Iwahig River,
there are still paddle boats available for morning cruise too.

Underwater Palawan...

The following morning was my
birthday! I want to do something memorable like snorkeling and beach-bumming. I
always had an affinity to ocean and beaches so we decided to do an island hopping
tour of Honda Bay which famed for its numerous islets, rich marine life and
white sand beaches. My other travel mates decided to do a city tour of Puerto
Princesa City. It was a one and half hour drive to reach the jump point port of
Honda Bay island hopping tour. But before we reached the port, we already went
to a rental shop for snorkeling gears, reef shoes and camera water-proof case
that proved to be useful in our island hopping tour.

Blue Corals at Pambato Reef.

The first island we toured is
actually not an island but a reef named Pambato Reef. The reef has a huge and
sheltered platform for visitors briefing and waiting area before diving into
the coral garden which was covered by a giant art design of a sea turtle.
Pambato Reef has large hectares of coral garden teeming with rich corals,
fishes and other marine life. I particularly enjoyed seeing the glowing blue
corals in numbers. It was my first time to do snorkeling on my birthday so I
really enjoyed it a lot!

In Panorama: The sandbar of Luli Island.

In fifteen minutes, we reached
Luli Island, so called for its characteristics of lulubog (sinking) and lilitaw
(rising) above the sea. Luli Island is just small but also has a coral
garden that is perfect for another snorkeling activity. The island is also
characterized by having a long stretch of sand-bar which can be explored by its
visitors.

Finally, we went to Cowrie
Island which was our last island tour in Honda Bay. Cowrie Island is named
after the cowrie shell and an ideal island for resting for visitors because it
has the amenities of a resort island like restaurants, restrooms, nipa huts,
etc. But what is also wonderful in Cowrie Island are its long stretch of white
sand beaches surrounding it while facing the beautiful seascape and stunning mountains
of Palawan. Photographs from these islands are post-perfect!

Welcome to Cowrie Island!

Parking spaces. It's more fun in Puerto Princesa!

In Cowrie Island we had our
lunch included in the package tour. The lunch is a buffet meal and composed of
large servings that is more than enough for our group in the tour. For me, it
was a great birthday lunch while admiring the beauty of the islands and nature
of Palawan! And there is much more to discover and explore In Puerto Princesa
if time permits me. But with all of those marvelous natural beauty and beautiful
sights that I experienced within the city, then it is no wonder that Puerto
Princesa will always be Palawan’s unrivaled princess.

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Puerto Princesa
City: Palawan’s Unrivaled Princess is part of my Puerto Princesa City trip
blog series last March 14-15, 2013. This is my second trip of Summer 2013 and part
one of my birthday travel trip. You may also like to read the other parts of
the series.

About Me

Ni Hao, Mabuhay and Aloha! I love going places since my first travel experience when I was 7 years old. It is no wonder that since then I keep on discovering and exploring places to travel. I also love writing. I started in writing school project essays but did not expect that from simple poems and essays, my passion for writing will emerge. Travel combined with my passion for writing is something I did not expect to be a great combination of a life-long passion. I like to share my travel experiences through writing. I love travel and places because travel is an experience of a lifetime!